Bridget Gainer

Bridget Gainer is a Cook County Commissioner, representing the County’s 10th district. She has served as Commissioner since 2009 for the 10th district, which includes many of Chicago’s north side neighborhoods. She is a member of the Democratic Party.

Bridget Gainer
Member of the Cook County Board of Commissioners
from the 10th district
Assumed office
April 12, 2009
Preceded byMike Quigley
Personal details
Born1968/1969 (age 50–51)[1]
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic
Spouse(s)Dennis Kibby
Children3
EducationUniversity of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (BA)
University of Chicago (MBA)

Bio

Gainer was born and raised in the Beverly neighborhood on Chicago's south side. In 1990, she graduated from University of Illinois with a bachelor of arts in English and political science. Afterwards, she moved to New York City to work as a community organizer with the Jesuit Volunteer Corps.

She moved back to Chicago in 1994 to continue her work as community organizer to work with local community members to keep schools open later in the day for after-school programming. From there, Gainer worked as a budget analyst in Chicago's City Hall. She then went on to work for the Park District as the Director of the Lakefront Parks.

Gainer later went on to join Aon in a financial role and continues to work for Aon today.

Gainer has an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago.

Gainer is married to Dennis Kibby and has three children.[1]

Political career

Gainer was initially appointed to the seat in April 2009 to replace former commissioner Mike Quigley, who won the special election to fill former Congressman Rahm Emanuel's seat when Emanuel left Congress to become White House Chief of Staff to President Obama. In 2010, Gainer defeated her Republican opponent in the November 2010 election and won a four-year term. In March of 2018, Gainer won her primary election against her opponent.

As commissioner she ensured the CCLBA works independently from the Cook County Board earning revenue from the property sales and reinvesting into the budget to provide an infrastructure to provide additional resources for first-time home buyers and small neighborhood developers. Since the program began, 400 homes have been purchased and rehabbed.[3]

  • Worked to reform the county lobbying ordinance in a stated effort to be more transparent.[4]
  • Voted against video gaming in bars [6]

In 2015, U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and Gainer founded a Chicago chapter of Off the Sidelines, a civic impact organization for women which gained over 3,000 members.[7]

In 2017, Off the Sidelines Chicago was renamed Cause the Effect Chicago.[9]

Controversies

Despite mulling a bid for Chicago mayor since Richard M. Daley's retirement in 2011, Gainer ultimately took her name out of the race for mayor in the 2019 election.[2] She had also come under scrutiny for her driving record[3] and attendance at legislative sessions. Over her tenure on the County Board Gainer missed 32% of County Board meetings[4] and 38% of Forest Preserve meetings. [5]

In November 2018, Chicago public radio station WBEZ sued Cook County in relation to e-mails the government would not release as part of a FOIA.[6]

References
  1. Is Bridget Gainer a Mayoral Contender?
  2. "Reverse Gainer: Why she walked right up to mayoral pool — but won't dive in". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved 2018-10-21.
  3. "Fast lane: Potential challenger to Mayor Rahm Emanuel racks up tickets from city". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved 2018-10-21.
  4. "4 Cook County Board members missed 38% or more meetings in past 5 years: survey". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved 2018-10-21.
  5. "2 Cook County commissioners missed over a third of Forest Preserve meetings". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved 2018-10-21.
  6. "WBEZ Sues Cook County For Commissioner's Emails Regarding Political Fund". WBEZ. Retrieved 2018-11-12.
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